Differential Hatchling
by kellani celina
Summary: The newborn goblin King did not elicit tears in his mother, instead Kiri from Willow Underground screamed.
1. Chapter 1

They hadn't expected her to scream when they offered her her child. Cry, yes, all new mothers did, especially in the high families. But when the goblin King's elvish wife laid eyes on her son, there were no tears in her black eyes. Instead they had instantaneously clamped shut, and her bloodcurdling scream was echoed by the distraught midwife.

The labor had went off without a hitch which was an unexpected blessing for the midwife. The King, who housed the kingdom's highest concentration of magic, had been called away by a sudden threat caused by human spelunkers in the area. They had reached the mirrored receiving room by the time Marak received the message, and, not fifteen minutes after he had stumped away, his wife's contractions began in earnest. Three weeks early.

Having been present when Sella, another captive elf, gave birth to her daughter, the midwife expected a long difficult labor. So, stepping brusquely over the puddle of amniotic fluids she sent a runner ahead to the King and settled herself into position for the long haul. Channeling the magic to widen Kiri's pelvis so that the baby could pass through, she waited for the King's return. Everything was happening too rapidly though. The contractions were even and strong, and Kiri's normally beautiful face was screwed up from the agony and reddened with exhaustion. The midwife sent a probe of magic to check the baby's positioning and found it perfectly aligned.

"The King is on his way." A black clad member of the guard arrived. "He is plotting the invader's revenge, and then will come assist with the labor."

"There may not be that much time. The baby is coming now. Go tell him."

"How is that possible?" The guard had a half-human wife, and he could distinctly remember her fourteen hour ordeal.

"I don't know!" Barked the midwife. "Fetch Marak immediately!" And the guard was gone so fast it was as if he had accelerated by magical means. She turned to another spectator. "Go get Sella, she's only a floor away from here."

A groan from Kiri rent the air, as her blond friend clattered down some stairs into the chamber. In her arms was her flame haired daughter. She thrust the squirming one year old into a guards arms with a few good natured threats and was at her friend's side. "How do you feel?" she asked.

There was a slight pause while Kiri caught her breath. "Like I'm being ripped in half from the inside, like something wants to chew its way through my bones, like I want to DIE!" Her last word was unintelligible as it comingled with a shout.

"Eloquently put." Sella said. "Now push."

And so it was that Kiri was the fifth King's Wife to have her son without the assistance of strong birthing magic. And the golden snake on her arm would recall that she had the shortest labor out of any of the Wives he cared for. And when the King arrived by cloak it was to a scene of pandemonium. Women were screaming and a baby was crying and little Falion was setting tapestries on fire.

"Everybody stop." He cried, and the room paused in time. His magic had even silenced the crackling flames which, with another quick spell, he extinguished.

Unfreezing his wife, he asked "what's going on?"

"I had the baby." She said bitterly, black eyes still screwed shut.

Mildly irritated, Marak turned to look for his son, and didn't immediately recognize him. Mismatched eyes swiveled through the ornate room but didn't stop too long on anyone. A second more methodical sweep followed and his eyes landed on a blob in the midwife's arms.

Just by seeing it, he understood why Kiri had screamed at the sight, he was repulsed by the creature. It was a grayish tan color, and nearly transparent, with some dark orange patches on the back of its head. And the head! Nearly a third of the body was a large lumpy mass, the rest streamlined. The entire infant seemed to be covered in a thin slime. And most disturbingly, the child was limbless.

"No legs." Kiri echoed his thought desperately. An athletic elf, she expressed herself in movement and loved running. A son without legs was the worst thing imaginable. "How could this have happened?" Being the King's Wife, she would only ever have one son. And he was a goblin. And he had no legs.

Marak delayed Calling his son to comfort his now sobbing wife. "I don't know how this happened. Goblin children are born out of things their parents love about each other, about their people. I love your athleticism, your spunk, your energy. This is a cruel joke."

"I love your wild looks and your quiet kindness." Kiri responded hollowly. "Maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and this will never have happened. Marak," she paused to think of his childhood name. "Whatever will we call him anyway?"

Aside from Marak, the goblin King didn't know. Normally King's were given a recognizable name after a physical trait. He was Marak Willowbark. But his son had no strong features, no traits that were immediately recognizable as animal. Indeed, his son looked like nothing he had ever seen before. "We will delay announcing his birth until we decide on a name. Someone fetch three scholars, scholars trained in the art of biological identification, preferably some that can blend in with the humans. They'll have a task to complete."


	2. Chapter 2

"Not a slug." One of the scholars waved his hands forcefully. "Can't you see that young Marak clearly has vertebrae and lacks antenna?" Lybos was not the oldest biological scholar, but he was the highest ranking. His silver fox tail was tucked underneath his sharp navy ensemble and he looked distinctly human. With fluffy fair hair and pointed nose, he looked insipid but his sharp black eyes indicated otherwise. His ears were snugly tucked into a hat and his hands were tipped with well manicured white claws.

"He could be a hybrid." Suggested another. "Maybe some sort of annelid? There's no saying that a goblin has to look identical to the animal he resembles."

"He doesn't have that bulgy part." Said the third. "You know what I mean. He doesn't have the obvious external segmentation either. I still think he's a slug. Did you know that banana slugs have blue genitals?" Sebonir was the youngest scholar, only a year out of page school. Elf pretty except for electric blue hair and fangs, her hand was sought frequently among the high families. She'd managed to dodge marriage so far with a rare determination.

"Well, the heir doesn't have blue genitals. In fact, he has no visible genitalia."

"He could be a baby slug." Sebonir argued. She brushed her hair out of her face to reveal dark blue swirling patterns on her skin.

"Coming from the second level researcher, an intelligent argument." Hanna was normally very soft spoken. She had large brown eyes and short velvet hair. Aside from that, only the short webbing on her hands and feet indicated her seal heritage.

The scholars had been at it for over an hour, poking and prodding the baby and flipping through their thick tomes filled with detailed anatomical diagrams. One carried an illustrated encyclopedia of all species. Another carried a goblin style dichotomous key. The third carried a dissection kit. "No you cannot cut my son into samples!" Marak had exclaimed forcefully, and the scalpels were left at the door.

Only Falion, Sella, and the midwife were present when the scholars arrived, and Falion immediately defected to join their research. She would giggle at their nonsense comments, causing her hair to flash, and occasionally would poke the baby. Sometimes her pokes included small jets of flame, and would cause the baby to wriggle and thrash his lower body in surprise. These movements would be accompanied by whispers "ah he has nocioreceptors…" "I wonder about his reflex arc?" "I still think he's a slug."

Sella, Marak, and Kiri avoided glancing at the baby. Time had not warmed them to the new addition to the kingdom. Sella especially was upset. "I have a beautiful girl, and you have a thing! I have another on the way, and you'll never conceive again!"

Kiri tried to shush her, but in her heart felt equally depressed. Elves hated ugliness, and there was no silver lining to her son. Inner beauty meant nothing to her. Hell, she was a camp lord's daughter and although she'd settled into her life underground, she could still remember her recalcitrance early in her capture. She remembered the things that she threw at Marak, the things she shattered, the miles she ran. All casualties to goblin life. And her son was nothing other than goblin. He would be just another face in the 'bright' hallways, something that would make her cringe in the corridors. Elves rarely had deformed offspring, but if they did it was shunned. Normally if healing didn't work, the baby would be left for the day-owls.

Marak was merely disappointed in himself. Every King wanted his son to be greater than him, and if his son couldn't walk… He thought back to the spelunkers on the hill, without legs his son would be unable to defend the kingdom unless his magic was unbelievably strong. But Marak doubted it was. The sluglet could feel the sparks from Falion, his defense magic should have already protected him.

A time later, the scholars wrenched their attention away from the baby. "We are unable to come to a definite conclusion." Admitted Lybos as he clutched his encyclopedia.

"You have limited our ability to conduct research." Said Hanna softly while shaking her dissection kit.

Sebonir knocked over a dwarfish carving next to the bed where Kiri lay and struggled to keep her book balanced on her head. "I learned in page school about animal storage facilities. I was thinking that perhaps we could visit one above ground to compare how young Marak moves to certain animals. Most likely a reptile or amphibian, as my colleagues have refused to considered non vertebrate species."

"He has bones Sebonir." Reprised Lybos with exasperation.

Hanna looked at Marak appraisingly. "I apologize for the brazenness of our second level. She has yet to learn to think before she speaks. We will return to our archives to search for a match." Gripping Sebonir's wrist, she made to exit the chamber.

Marak reached out a tendril to stop them. "Sebonir has it correct. I want you three dressed as humans and ready to go outside with the dawn carts. I need you to visit a reptile house."


	3. Chapter 3

At dawn they were ready. Lybos arrived first. Uncharacteristically disheveled, his suit was rumpled and his hair was mussed. He clutched his coffee and his encyclopedia like a dying man. He had spent the night in the library comparing sketches of the next goblin King to every image he could find. Unfortunately, his research had been futile. He requested a guard to inform his wife of his departure, he had not had time to return to his apartment.

The carts were clattering up towards the door now, and Hanna arrived looking well rested and smug. She had opted to leave the dissection kit at home, but she exchanged it with a lethal looking apparatus. The function of this was a jealously guarded secret that was fiercely debated by pages who took her introductory biology class. They mostly agreed that it was a torture device. "Sebonir is running late again. The King dictated that we return with the dawn carts or we're stuck out here until tomorrow evening," She groused to Lybos.

He nodded pleasantly. "Did you find anything of interest?"

"Now that you've enlightened us that he has bones? I'm thinking he may be an eel."

"Eels require submersion." Lybos countered.

"The future King has defense magic which would negate that need. Or, like I initially believed, he may be a hybrid." Hanna climbed smartly into the cart that would carry them into the daylight and readjusted her black dress and wide-brimmed hat. "This way of travel is preposterous. Marak could have easily sent us through the water mirror. Then Sebonir would have had time to sleep in."

"Don't be ridiculous. We couldn't go through the water mirror. We don't know a specific location of a reptile house, also our books would have gotten wet." He dragged himself up wearily to sit beside her. "Now," he began, "I plan on taking a nap during this ride, so if you could spend the energy to smooth it that would be appreciated."

He had just drifted off when Sebonir leapt into her spot. Although he wasn't awakened by the jarring of the cart, Hanna's criticisms interrupted his slumber. "Hanna, please." He tried to plead with her.

"No, Lybos! You need to look at the ensemble she put herself in. She is going to call attention to all of us."

Cracking an eye, he observed Sebonir dressed in electric blue nylons, a distractingly short skirt (if he wasn't married…), and four blouses of different colors, cuts, patterns, and eras. Her silver boots were covered in crystals, and glowed. She had spiked her hair, colored her face, and wore so much jewelry that there was a glare. She carried a lacy parasol. "Hanna has a point." He mused aloud. "Did you get dressed in the dark?"

"No!" Sebonir was incensed. Both at the hour and at the fustiness of her colleagues. "Look, I already have blue hair. I figured that by increasing the chaotic nature of myself, that people would look away rather than stare. I mean, you already think I'm crazy."

Although Hanna was not won over by her argument, Lybos silenced her with a spell and returned to his nap. By the time the sun was out, they were moving through the English countryside. With Lybos soundly asleep and Sebonir resolutely looking in the opposite direction, no one was available to appreciate Hanna's angry glares.

After clearing the Hollow Hill vicinity, they arrived at the designated place where they could stash the cart and travel by cloak. Lybos substituted a blanket, as cloaks were out of fashion. The resultant spell worked, but only because he had been wrapped in the blanket rather than using it as a cover. Magic works on technicalities. They arrived in the women's bathroom in the reptile house. Fortunately, it had been deserted at the time, and it was only a matter of exiting one by one so as not to attract attention. As Lybos left, he was seen by a human woman, and he feigned embarrassment. She nodded and looked the other way, mumbling about drunken sots at the zoo and didn't he know there could be children about?

The reptile house was cool and dark and feeling comfortable in the environment, they split up. Hanna went to stare at a moray eel, and she was repulsed by its crooked features but impressed by its bite power and its long teeth. Although the newborn King didn't have the same proportions as the eel, he had the same slime coat, and a sickly coloration. She read about the electric eel and hoped that maybe the babe would have elemental powers. Thinking of the time Falion ignited a rare text, she quickly reconsidered.

Lybos was ignoring the future King's skin tone and focusing on leglessness. There were many snakes in the reptile house, a portion of which were poisonous. Hanna had had a point that not every trait in the new King had to be based off of an animal; Marak Lionclaw was a famous example. He made note to check whether the infant had a rattle, fangs, or hood. The markings on his head indicated that perhaps there would be something unique there, but he was unsure. Snakes had vestigial legs as well, so if ever leg buds did develop, it would still be consistent with his theory.

Fully intending to look into the slug possibility, there was a small display of invertebrates; Sebonir was sidetracked by a display on the reproduction of Anurans, or frogs. She was fascinated by the idea of metamorphosis, and a tank containing their tadpoles caught her eye. The tadpoles would someday become red-eyed tree frogs, a common South American species, and there was a side panel on differential hatching. When a threat occurred, eggs would hatch before their full development was completed trading off decreased probability of survival in the water for temporary survival. This was consistent with Kiri's early labor. Before she could compare species morphology, she was dragged off by Hanna, shoved roughly through the blanket, and on her way back to the kingdom.


	4. Chapter 4

"I think Marak may show frog traits." Announced Sebonir after they returned to their wagon. "I didn't have enough time to decide on a specific species, but circumstances around his birth and certain aspects of his morphology lead me to believe this."

"For once in your life Sebonir, think before you speak." Hanna said exasperatedly. "The young King has no legs, no webbing and his tongue is an average length."

"Not every goblin bears such strong resemblance as the current Marak. If I remember correctly, Marak the Antlered didn't have hooves or a pelt, only antlers. And Marak Sixfinger had no animal traits that I can recall. In addition, amphibians undergo metamorphosis meaning that young Marak may change as he reaches maturity." She appealed to Lybos.

"A goblin King born into a weakened form?" Scoffed Hanna. "Now you're just being stubborn and unreasonable. We were designed by the first fathers to be strong, and you suggest that the magical embodiment of our race is otherwise? You may as well name us all fruit bats or echidnas and not call us goblin. I have had it with your insults."

Sebonir opened her mouth to defend herself, but Hanna refused to let her speak. "No, it is apparent that you still belong in page school with your logic errors. Scholar second class is too good for you."

With a shriek, Sebonir raised her right hand and began muttering an elvish spell. The new moon coupled with her elvish blood and prevented Hanna from being transformed into a luna moth. Instead, Hanna glowed faintly green for a moment and remained in her traditional form. Before she could retaliate, Lybos had her by the magic arm, and bound her magic. "Stop fighting." He commanded and the women, who understood their rank among the scholars, obeyed. "I do not wish to bring this bickering before the King. He has too much on his mind to worry about us."

"Hanna, you are being incredibly close-minded. Sebonir's theory, though unlikely, was made on sound biological principles. Maybe she neglected to remember what is goblin in her zeal, but her opinions shouldn't be discounted only because she is young. You have disappointed me."

"That being said." He swung around and faced Sebonir with murder in his eyes. "You were honored with a trip outside the kingdom due to your human look and your apparent skills. But you lack judgment. From ignoring goblin attributes to using vengeful magic in the human world, to dressing like a goblin child, you have demonstrated that you are not yet ready to be an applied scholar. You are to be stripped of your position on this team and you will be set to filing memos in the archives until it is apparent that you have gained maturity. This is not up for discussion, and if I see that you attend court to air your complaint with the King, I will make certain that the closest to scholarship that you ever come is acting as a janitor."

Sebonir's eyes filled with tears, and she clutched her dichotomous key closely. Stripped of everything while Hanna was barely dressed down! It stung her pride. She would be unable to present her findings to the King, because Lybos forbade it. Silence reigned over the carriage but Sebonir couldn't help her betrayed glances and the occasional sniff. Hanna, despite her reprimand, looked smug.

On returning to the safety of underground kingdom, the scholars separated. Sebonir immediately turned away from the group past the metal grove, and darted down a stairwell. The scholars' library was a separate place from the King's, located deep in the foundations of the palace under layers of stone and memories. Here the ambient lamplight was dimmer, the air was cooler, and the traffic infrequent. Members of the guard were posted outside the entrance to the scholars' compound preventing curious pages from tampering with rare tomes.

Sebonir took a left and began climbing the winding staircase that led to the uppermost level of apartments. Her second level rank granted her easy access to information, but not as easy as the upper level scholars. Approximately eight stories below, the library floor lay beckoning. The scholars' compound was rectangular with half the space devoted housing information in the form of goblin, elvish, and human writings. Behind the library area, a similar sized room to filing all kingdom records: births, taxes, court rulings, research. Lining the walls starting at about forty feet were scaffolded hallways that led to the scholars home areas. Enchanted ladders hung suspended among tall shelves, ready to take the scholar to their desired location. If only they could take her to her room… but the chief librarian had had words with her about that.

Once home, she began removing her "human" outfit and changed into something more goblin. Her people liked embellishment, but in the library simpler was better. But if her stint as a scholar was up… She selected tight black trousers, a long black tunic, and a belt for her waste with a giant lapis lazuli buckle. Her soft boots had red trim, as did her carry sack. Before Lybos could return and make her transfer official, she would have to catch up on some reading…

As Sebonir was acquiring documents on the development of frogs, Lybos and Hanna were comforting the distraught goblin King and offering ideas. "We think young Marak could be a snake, or perhaps an eel." Lybos informed the King.

Kiri was staring blankly at the wall, holding hands with Sella. She had rejected the infant immediately, and was clinging to the things that reminded her of an elvish life. Her friend had little to say in comfort. The midwife had handed the baby to a nurse, Hanyos, as soon as it was physically possible. From a lower class high family, Hanyos was a goblin's goblin. She had been selected to ease the new Marak's passing development, because her hideousness was nearly unparalleled. Her lavender skin was mildewed with random splotches of greenish grey. Her hair was lank and teal, but had patches of forest green. She had holes where her nose would be, vivid orange eyes, and the tusks of a warthog. Her hands and feet had nine digits each that extended in a circle from her wrists and ankles, like mop heads. But she was kind, and quiet, and the ideal nurse for a legless child.

"Snakes can be strong. Kiri, imagine if our son was venomous like a cobra! What a King he could be."

With dead eyes she turned to her husband. "Stop believing that he'll be a good King. The magic glitched somehow. Your kingdom is ruined, and you can't do anything to fix it. I want to go home."

The goblin King had no response, but he patted her awkwardly on the head. The symbol on her forehead flashed gold reminding him that she could never leave. It would remind the doors later that night when she would try to escape. He knew his wife, he loved his wife, but he couldn't give her what she needed. And Marak Willowbark desperately wanted to pretend his son never existed with her. "We will deal with this tomorrow." He commanded, and led his wife to their lavish floor. The young Marak was left with his nurse.


End file.
